Current production motorized vehicles, such as the modern-day automobile, are originally equipped with a lighting system to provide interior and exterior illumination for the vehicle operator. Such lighting systems include an array of lamp assemblies that are mounted or integrated to the front, sides and rear of the vehicle. The purpose of these lamp assemblies is to provide exterior illumination for the driver to safely operate the vehicle in low-light conditions, such as nighttime driving, and to increase the conspicuity of the vehicle. Such lighting systems also display information about the vehicle's presence, position, size, direction of travel, as well as providing signaling functions to indicate the operator's intended maneuvering of the vehicle.
All automobiles must be equipped with rear brake lights that illuminate upon actuation of the vehicle brake system to indicate that the vehicle is slowing or stopping. Generally fitted in multiples of two, symmetrically at the left and right edges of the vehicle rear, the brake lights are red, steady-burning lamps that are activated when the driver applies pressure to the brake pedal. Many automobiles are also equipped with a central brake lamp that is mounted higher than the vehicle's traditional left and right brake lamps. The central brake lamp is known as a center high-mounted stop lamp, or “CHMSL” (pronounced chim-zul). The CHMSL is intended to provide a deceleration warning to following drivers whose view of the vehicle's regular stop lamps is blocked by interceding vehicles.
In addition to the above-mentioned brake light assemblies, current production automobiles are also equipped with front-mounted headlamps. With a similar arrangement to the rear brake lights, an individual headlamp assembly is typically mounted at both the front-left and front-right corners of the vehicle. The headlamp is generally designed to provide forward illumination in two different settings: a “low-beam setting, which provides adequate forward and lateral illumination for normal driving conditions with minimized glare, and a “high-beam” setting, which provides an intense, center-weighted distribution of light that is primarily suitable for driving scenarios where on-coming drivers are not present.
Headlamp assemblies, in addition to forward illumination, may include multiple lamps to provide various features. Daytime running lamps, also known as daylight running lamps (or “DRL” for short), are provided to increase the conspicuity of the vehicle during daylight conditions. DRLs automatically switch on when the vehicle is shifted into drive. These may be functionally-dedicated lamps incorporated into the vehicle design, or may be provided, for example, by the low- or high-beam headlamps. Similarly, nighttime standing-vehicle conspicuity to the front is provided by white or amber light emitted from front position lamps, more commonly known as “parking lamps”.
Conventional lamp assemblies include numerous internal parts, such as brackets, reflectors, bulbs, internal adjuster mechanisms, and, in some cases, a projector lamp. Traditionally, the entire lamp assembly is pre-assembled into a protective lamp housing prior to integration with the vehicle. A protective outer lens is also necessary to shield the internal lamp componentry from external debris, weather, and the like. The complexity of such prior art lamp assemblies adds to the cost of manufacturing the assembly, which in turn adds to the cost of the automobile.
More recently, some vehicular lamp assemblies have replaced the traditional filament-type light bulb with a number of light emitting diodes (LEDs). LEDs offer certain advantages over their conventional bulb counterparts, including reduced power consumption, improved shock resistance, minimal heat generation, and a longer operational life expectancy. Individually, though, an LED does not have sufficient luminous output to replace other lamp formats (e.g., incandescent, tungsten halogen, fluorescent, and high intensity discharge). As a result, the LEDs in prior art lamp assemblies are normally grouped into strings or clusters to accumulate sufficient light output. In addition, the light emitted by such LED clusters generally diverges into an uncontrolled light spread distribution, which is unsuitable for certain lamp configurations, such as DRLs and turn signals.